Archive for the ‘Andrapredesh’ Category

Nalgonda, December 19: The Nalgonda police produced a senior Maoist Kavali Yadagiri alias Sudhakar alias Pandu alias Nomula Ramana, former courier of top Maoist Akkiraju Haragopal alias Ramakrisha, before the magistrate at his official residence on Tuesday evening.

Superintendent of Police Vijay Kumar told reporters that Yadagiri, the Nalgonda divisional committee member, had been arrested at Nizampet of Medak district on Monday. The 41-year-old Yadagiri is a native of Udutalapally in Chandur district. He was involved in 17 cases, including six murders, the SP said.

The police did not allow press persons to speak to the arrested Maoist on the premises of the district police office headquarters. However, Yadagiri told a group of reporters prior to being produced before the magistrate that he had been “tortured” by policemen in Medak. He thanked the electronic media for “saving” his life.

As the in-charge of Nalgonda ditrict committee affairs, Yadagiri had direct dealings with the CPI (Maoist) State Committee. He had been with the Maoists from 1998 and played a vital role in many operations. “He had worked as a courier to Ramakrishna at Tenali before the peace talks. After the failure of the talks, he was elevated as the area committee secretary position,” the SP said.

Yadagiri gave police a tough time by killing Jinukala Shankaraiah of Yellamonigudem in Gurrampode mandal on December 6, a day before the Chief Minister’s visit to Aler, branding him as an informant.

The Superintendent of Police also revealed that one Pothu Ramesh Goud (38), Yadagiri’s companion, gave the slip to the police. The police recovered a 12-bore thapancha and a fusewire bundle from a dump in his house at his native place. The Officer on Special Duty A.Venkateswara Rao said that Yadagiri’s wife resides at Zaheerabad.

HYDERABAD : Maoist party south Telangana secretary and action team member Kavali Yadagiri alias Sudhakar alias Pandu (41) was taken into custody by police in Medak district, while a woman naxal surrendered before police in Warangal on Tuesday.

Pandu of Nalgonda was arrested by SIB police at Nizampet in Dubbaka mandal when he was going on a scooter along with Pothu Ramesh Goud, son of TRS leader Chandra Goud. Sources said Pandu was whisked away in a car by sleuths to an unknown place.

He has been with the Maoist party since 1998 and worked as a courier to top leader Akkiraju Haragopal alias Ramakrishna. A 12 bore tapancha and a fuse wire bundle was recovered from his house at Udthalpalli village.

Chetti Prameela alias Swarnakka alias Vidya, commander of Venkatapuram special guerrilla squad in Khammam district, who has been underground for 15 years, surrendered in Warangal on Tuesday.

She is the wife of senior Maoist leader and NTSZC secretariat member Chetti Rajapapaiah, who was killed in an encounter at the Medaram forests on July 1. In all, 23 cases were registered against her in Khammam and Warangal districts, including seven murder cases.

GUNTUR: Ending the week-long suspense, the police today announced that they have arrested CPI (Maoist) Prakasam District Committee Secretary Singa Prasad and Gundlakamma area committee member Juthavath Ramsingh Naik alias Keshav on Sunday night.

It may recalled that senior Maoist leader Sagar alias Panduranga Reddy, who was arrested a few days ago, claimed on December 10 that Prasad and Keshav were in police custody and based on their confession, the police unearthed a dump comprising nearly 10 kg gold articles and Rs 7 lakh cash in the Nallamala forests.

The police, however, denied the arrests. Producing the two Maoists at a media conference here, District SP Mahesh Chandra Laddha and OSD Ravi Prakash said that they were arrested at Mrutunjayapuram in Nujendla mandal on Sunday night.

Even the Maoists ‘vouchsafed’ the police version saying that they were held on Sunday night while making a phone call after meeting their party colleagues Murali, Ashok, Nirmala and Vimala.

Giving the details of the cases in which the duo were involved, Laddha said that Prasad, a native of Bommalapuram in Prakasam district, joined the movement in 2000 after he was influenced by Maoist leader Jeevan. He is accused in 10 murder cases.

Keshav, who is a native of Rajanayak Thanda of Bollapalli mandal in Guntur district, joined the movement a few years ago.

He was area committee member of Gundlakamma and also worked as sentry to district Maoist leaders. Keshav was involved in five murders cases.

The Maoists said there were no further recruitments and the party has become weak after holding talks with the Government in 2004. To a query, they said that senior Maoist leaders Jeevan and Sambasivudu were not in Nallamala at present.

Laddha said that the police initially mistook Prasad for another Maoist Meesala Prabhakar but later ascertained his identity. He also appealed to seven other Naxalites, including Prabhakar and Nagamani to surrender.

Reporters Without Borders calls on the central government to shed light on the reasons for the arrest of Pittala Srisailam, editor of the online television station Musi TV (www.musitv.com), on 4 December in Hyderabad, the capital of the eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Accused of being a Maoist “courier,” Srisailam was going to interview one of the leaders of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) when arrested.

Srisailam was interrogated for 30 hours before being formally placed under arrest. In the course of his transfer from Ongol prison to Nellore prison in Andhra Pradesh, he told journalists: “I was kidnapped by police and wrongly implicated as a Maoist courier. I was also tortured by the police in custody to make me confess to things I am not aware of. I have no connections whatsoever with the Maoists and was there only for an interview as a part of my job as a journalist.”

His family and colleagues have met with Andhra Pradesh interior minister Jana Reddy, but nothing has so far come of the meeting. Musi TV supports separate statehood for Telangana, the northwestern half of Andhra Pradesh state. It posts videos of pro-Telangana meetings, unrest and local news on its website. The Hyderabad police recently threatened Srisailam with the “worst consequences” if he continued to work for the station.

WARANGAL/GUNTUR: Two Naxalites of the Praja Pratighatana were killed while four Maoists, including a District Committee Member (DCM), surrendered before the police in Warangal and Guntur districts on Tuesday.

According to Mulugu (Warangal district) Assistant SP Naveen Gulati, the special teams conducted searches in and around Janagala Vancha Vagu hamlet after receiving information that some Naxalites were moving in the nearby Tadwai forests.

The police came across a group of Naxalites who opened fire at them. The police returned the fire, killing two members instantly. The exchange of fire lasted for 15 minutes and the police recovered two country- made revolvers and five bullets from the site.

Two senior leaders Ashok and Suresh along with 11 others managed to escape from the scene. The police suspect that the Naxalites were trying to collect ‘mamools’ from the contractors who were executing works for the ensuing Medaram jatara in February next.

Meanwhile two Naxals – L Raju alias Sampath, a member of Venkatapuram dalam of CPI (Maoist) in Khammam district and G Yakaiah, who was a member of Illendu dalam of Praja Pratighatana – surrendered before Warangal district SP Sowmya Mishra.

While Raju came out of the movement due to ill-health, Yakaiah was fed up as the party failed to solve his family problems.

Narasimha Rao, a native of Regulagadda village in Machavaram mandal was acting as Krishnapatti area committee DCM while Lakshmi was a member of the Bellamkonda dalam.

They took permission from the CPI (Maoist) leadership to give up arms in 2005 following health problems and were recently permitted to leave the movement after going underground in Krishna and Nalgonda districts.

According to Laddha, the couple was part of the group which triggered a landmine blast killing a circle inspector Brahmaiah and his gunman in October 2002.

They were also involved in famine raids in Morjampadu and Vemavaram villages in Machavaram mandal in 2002.

Laddha said one more couple – M Prabhakar and Nagamani – were still in the party and wanted them to return to the mainstream.

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent The blatant move of Andhra Pradesh government to use incriminating evidence on the alleged links of 75-odd journalists with outlawed Maoist outfits to gag the media surprises no one. Not only successive governments in the state but also the powers-that-be at the Centre and in other states have, too often, sought to impose arbitrary curbs on the media.

N. T. Rama Rao tried to bring in a Bill to place restrictions on the Press. While imposing ban on People’s War Group in 1992, the then chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy had declared that the police was empowered under the AP Public Security Act to book journalists for giving publicity to Maoists. N. T. Rama Rao and Janardhan Reddy had to beat a hasty retreat in the wake of widespread protests by journalists and civil rights groups.

The latest move is one in a series during the present regime to browbeat journalists who raise critical voices. A few days ago, a journalist was arrested under the Public Security Act for allegedly acting as a courier for Maoists. Only last month, two scribes were arrested in connection with a sting operation undertaken to highlight irregularities in the Indiramma housing programme. Earlier this year, the government had issued GO 938 for prosecuting newspapers and TV channels for carrying baseless and defamatory reports. The gag order was withdrawn after angry protests by the media.

Though initially the Chief Minister, Dr Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy, claimed that the GO was issued without his knowledge and the signature of the chief secretary,. File notings obtained under Right to Information Act revealed that the Chief Minister and the chief secretary had indeed approved and signed the GO 938 on February 20.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression with reasonable restrictions in certain circumstances. Any arm-twisting tactics against the media betray the nervousness of the powers-that-be who are becoming increasingly intolerant of criticism these days. But such attempts to muzzle the media would only prove counter-productive as the late Indira Gandhi realised the hard way in 1977.

The press, described as the Fourth Estate, has to act as a watch-dog on the functioning of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary without fear or favour.

Meanwhile, the AP CM’s Office clarified that “the government has absolutely no intention to put any checks on the media and has always been maintaining cordial relations with the press and media journalists”.

It may be noted that media reports with the headline 75 AP scribes to have Maoist links – YSR to use data to gag journalists has heated the matter. An release informed that the arrest of television reporter, P Srisailam resulted in the arrest of a top Maoist leader.

The CMO also clarified neither the government nor anybody in the government is trying to prosecute or implicate any journalist in false cases. It also denied that the government is planning to use the information to browbeat journalists.

Chennai, December 7: The “Q” Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police on Thursday arrested a woman Maoist leader who had taken refuge in Minjur in suburban Chennai and was wanted by the Andhra Pradesh Police in several cases. Madhavi (28) had arrived in Minjur about 40 days back and was living with another Naxalite leader, N Panduranga Reddy.

The two lived as a married couple, posing as traders dealing in firewood, and were missing for a long period of time, Q Branch sources said. Their frequent absence from their rented house led to suspicion and a police team arrested Madhavi from the house on Thursday at around 6 pm. According to the sources, Madhavi and Reddy, got married about eight months back before settling in Minjur.

Police said Reddy, a top-rung Maoist leader, wanted in such cases as an assassination bid on former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu about four years ago and the recent attack on former CM N Janardhan Reddy in Nellore, was picked up by the Andhra Police on Wednesday in Prakasam district.

There were rumours on Thursday that Reddy had been arrested in Tamil Nadu. However, the state police, including Tamil Nadu DGP P Rajendran, denied this. On Friday, Q Branch officials said he had been arrested in Andhra.

Madhavi, hailing from Hyderabad, is said to have at least six cases against her, including her involvement in the Nallagunta attack on a group of policemen and Anakapalli culvert attack, targeting senior officials, both in Andhra Pradesh. According to police, she led many of these attacks, targeting politicians and policemen. When questioned by the Tamil Nadu Police, she said she had come to Minjur to recuperate after an illness.

The Tamil Nadu Police have registered a case against Madhavi under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act as she belonged to a banned organisation. Several cases have been registered against her in Andhra Pradesh, including under the AP Public Security Act, Explosive Substances Act and attempt to murder.

MINJUR: Lakshmi, a 50-year-old woman living in the northern suburbs of Chennai, will now think twice before getting tenants.

In late October, she had let out a part of her house on Bhajanai Koil Street in Pungamedu locality, to a couple from Andhra Pradesh for a period of 45 days.

On the 41st day, however, it emerged that the couple — Pandu Ranga Reddy and his wife Mari alias Madhavi — were most-wanted Naxalites in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. They had rented the house saying the wife needed regular treatment in Chennai for her recurring stomach pain.

Last Wednesday morning, when the couple took a bus bound for the city, the Andhra Pradesh police intercepted it at Melur and arrested Pandu. The police, however, did not notice Madhavi and she was left behind in the bus. When she got back home, the village head and the local councillor, P Durai, took her to the police saying her husband had been kidnapped.

After initial inquiry, the police said they could not trace any incident of kidnapping that had taken place on that day, and sent them back. Around midnight on Wednesday, police surrounded the usually quiet Pungamedu locality.

Acting on a tip-off from the Andhra police, they arrested Madhavi and sent her to Puzhal prison. “It was the first time we had seen such a huge police presence, that too at midnight. People here usually don’t let out their houses, but this couple managed because they said they were here for treatment,” Durai told Express.

Kanmani, a teenager who lives next to Lakshmi, said, “Their activities were not suspicious, but her husband would go missing for a few days in a week.”

Said Veeran, another resident: “Lakshmi is the only one in the area who can speak Telugu. Maybe that is why she let them stay, even against the wishes of her daughter and son-in-law.”

It was because of the language barrier that people there hardly spoke — and got to know the couple.

The magistrate remanded the Maoist leader for 15 days and police transferred him to Kadapa jail with heavy security. As many as 150 scribes from various places thronged the Markapuram civil judge’s court from 10 am on Thursday as the police announced the production of Sagar at 11 am in the court. Police earlier kept Sagar at a hideout at the tourism department’s Punnami guest house-cum-hotel at Peda Dornala amidst strong vigilance. Up to the last minute, they concealed this information and started from the guest house with 10 sub-inspectors and hundreds of police vehicles following.

As the police squad reached the court at 5.45 pm and the court was closed, police under the aegis of officer on special duty (OSD) R.N. Ammi Reddy produced the leader at the magistrate’s house. The judge ordered 15 days of remand and police transferred Sagar to Kadapa jail.

Police arrested Sagar at Jarugumalli of Kandukur division on Wednesday and 24 cases were filed against him, the OSD said. The accused was involved in all major cases and they had already short listed 65 cases, he said. Interestingly, the police produced only Sagar without his wife Madhavi alias Mary and two others who were allegedly taken into custody with the leader.